POLAND REVISITED

By Mike McPhee

[This is the text of an Address at the Sydney Unitarian Church on 08 March 2020.]

Poland is a country with a long history, glorious much of the time but with some tragic periods. With a popu-

lation of 39 million, it is the sixth most populous country in the European Union and also the seventh largest

in both area and GDP. Its capital, Warsaw has 1.8 million inhabitants and another six cities have populations

between 400,000 and 800,000: Kraków, Łódź, Wrocław, Poznań, Gdańsk, and Szczecin.

Much of the country is on the North European Plain, therefore largely flat and fertile, but most of its

southern borders are mountainous with extensive foothills further north. Its main river is the Vistula,

which crosses the entire country, but the Oder River flows through the southwest and then forms the

border with Germany. (Both rivers have many tributaries, however, as can be seen on the map.)

The region has been inhabited for at least 500,000 years and it became the centre of the Lusatian culture during

the Bronze and Iron Ages (1300 – 500 BCE). While numerous Slavic tribes had arrived by then, there were

other ethnicities present and archeologists are reluctant to speculate on who the Lusatians actually were. What

is known is that they had pottery, metalwork, extensive agriculture and fortified settlements.

By the 10th Century CE, Slavs were the dominant ethnicity in the region and the five major tribes were united

by Duke Mieszko I of the Piast dynasty to form a Polish state whose borders were surprisingly similar to those

of the present day. Its western neighbours, Lusatia and the Veleti Union were also inhabited by Slavs and those

territories were contested by Poland and Germany over the centuries. Despite the name, the region of ‘Old

Prussia’ to the northeast was inhabited by Baltic speakers related to the Lithuanians and Latvians.

Mieszko converted to Christianity in 966, drawing Poland closer to the rest of Europe, though it would take

300 years for the whole country to become Christian. Despite periods of disunity that sometimes caused Poland

to revert to duchy status, the Piast dynasty remained in power for most of the next 400 years. When Casimir

III died without issue in 1370, he was succeeded by his nephew, King Louis I of Hungary. This led to a brief

union of the two kingdoms, after which he was succeeded by his daughter, Jadwiga, in 1384.

Events took a remarkable turn in 1386, when Jadwiga married Grand Duke Jagalla of Lithuania, who had just

converted to Christianity for the purpose. Despite the small size of the present-day state, at that time Lithuania

had acquired most of what is now Belarus and Ukraine through intermarriage and alliances. Jagalla was made

co-monarch as Wladislaw II Jagiello and, after Jadwiga died in 1399, he ruled in his own capacity until his

death in 1434. The Jagiellon dynasty ruled until 1572, by which time the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth

had been formalised. It became one of the largest states in Europe at the time, with an area of 1 million square

kilometres and a population of 10 million.

The Commonwealth lasted under other dynasties for another 200 years, during which time it became renowned

as a centre of scholarship, culture and religious tolerance. Unfortunately, after a disastrous war with Sweden

in the early 1700s, it was badly weakened and its neighbours began to attack. Outer regions like Latvia and

Ukraine were taken early in the piece but later the entire Commonwealth was carved up by Russia, Prussia and

the Austro-Hungarian Empire in the Partitions of 1772, 1793 and 1795. Poland ceased to exist as a state until

the end of World War I, despite numerous uprisings against the partitioning powers during that time.

The Republic of Poland that emerged in 1920 was more-or-less as it had been before the Partitions. As we

know, the country was again partitioned by Nazi Germany and the Soviet Union in 1939, and after World War

II it was effectively shifted westward. Much of its eastern territory was acquired by the USSR while Poland

gained the former German territories of Pomerania, Silesia and East Prussia. Most of the German inhabitants

of those regions were expelled and replaced by Polish refugees from the lost eastern lands.

Most of us known the later history of Poland as a communist state until 1989, so we should now commence

our tour of the country.

The capital, Warsaw, on the Vistula River has a population of 1.8 million; however, with 3.1 million people

in the greater metropolitan area, it is the fifth-largest city in Europe. Built on the site of a fishing village in

about 1300, the original town became a ducal capital and a centre of crafts and trade. It became the capital of

the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth in 1596 and expanded greatly after the royal court and many nobles

moved there. In the 1700s, the city was largely rebuilt under the direction of leading German architects as a

centre of culture and the arts, earning it the title ‘the Paris of the North’.

Warsaw was under Prussian control after the Third Partition but it was awarded to Russia by the Congress of

Vienna in 1815. Considerable modernisation in the way of water mains, sewers, trams and gaslights took place

after that time. Sadly, the city was destroyed to the extent of 85% by the retreating Germans near the end of

World War II, so much of what you’ll be seeing next has been painstakingly reconstructed since that time.

The Royal Castle was built on the site of an earlier wooden fortified town in about 1400 and expanded over

the years. Originally the home of the Dukes of Masovia, it became the royal residence and administrative head-

quarters when Warsaw was made the capital, as well as the meeting place of the Sejm (Parliament). After the

Partitions, it was used by various occupying powers, including the Nazis, for the same purposes. Under the

first Polish republic, it served as the presidential palace.

Today, it is a museum and part of Warsaw’s impressive Old Town on the bank of the Vistula River, which

also features a historic Market Place and the Barbican, a fortified entrance that is the only remaining part of

the walls that once surrounded the town. The Old Town was made a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1980.

There are three cathedrals in Warsaw but only St. John’s is called an Archcathedral, because it has been the

seat of the Archbishop since 1813. Originally built in the 14th Century in Gothic style, the then cathedral served

as a coronation and burial site for numerous Dukes of Masovia. It was rebuilt several times, most notably in

the 19th Century in the English Gothic Revival style.

Almost totally destroyed in 1945, the Archcathedral was rebuilt after the war. The exterior reconstruction was

based on the 14th Century church's presumed appearance, based on drawings from the 1600s. Attempts were

made to restore the interior to its appearance in those times, as well.

The Łazienkowski Palace is in the city's largest park, occupying over 76 hectares of the city centre. Built as a

Baroque bath house by a nobleman in the 1680s, it was richly decorated with stuccos, statues, and paintings.

In 1766, Stanisław II Augustus, the last king of Poland, purchased the estate and converted the bathing

pavilion into a summer residence with an English garden.

The Vistula River has always been a central feature of Warsaw that various city planners over the centuries

have taken full advantage of. A kilometres-long riverside promenade provides a great place for walking,

cycling, dining and nightlife. Along the boulevards are gazebos with sun loungers, stone benches and seats

made from tree branches.

Surprisingly, perhaps, there are stretches of sand at certain points on the river which are regarded as some of

the most beautiful urban beaches in the world. This one is near the Poniatowski Bridge and has beach volleyball

facilities, while others give access to boats that cruise on the river.

About 270 km up the Vistula River, almost to the border with Czech Republic and Slovakia, is Kraków, with

a city population of 775,000 and 1.7 million people in the metropolitan area. Dating back to the 7th Century

and originally part of the Czech kingdoms of Moravia and, later, Bohemia, the thriving commercial centre was

taken by King Mieszko I of Poland in about 990. It became the Polish capital in 1038, after which many of its

historic buildings were constructed.

The city flourished over the next 600 years, becoming a centre of learning, arts and sciences. It went into

decline after Warsaw became the capital of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth, probably as a point of

balance between the two components. Under the Partitions of the late 1700s, it came under the control of the

Austro-Hungarian Empire until the end of World War I. Mercifully, the city was largely undamaged during

World War II, so even its oldest buildings are intact today.

The Wawel Castle was built by King Casimir III the Great, who reunified Poland in the 1300s and expanded

its territories. One of the largest castles in the country, it was the residence of Polish kings for centuries. It was

expanded over those years, so its various structures are in the Medieval, Renaissance and Baroque styles. Since

1930, the castle has been one of the country's premier art museums.

The Wawel Hill it sits on consists of numerous buildings of great historical and national importance, including

the Wawel Cathedral (see below), where Polish monarchs were crowned and buried. Some of the oldest stone

buildings can be traced back to 970 CE, in addition to the earliest examples of Romanesque and Gothic

architecture. In 1978, the Wawel Hill was declared a UNESCO World Heritage Site as part of the Historic

Centre of Kraków.

That historic Centre includes the Old Town, whose Main Square is surrounded by historic townhouses and

churches. Dating from the 13th Century, it is the largest medieval town square in Europe. In those days, it was

a marketplace and its commercial role expanded as the city did.

The centre of the square is dominated by the Cloth Hall, originally built in the 1300s for the city’s growing

textile trade. Gutted by a fire in 1555, it was rebuilt in the Renaissance style and topped by a parapet decorated

with carved masks. The arcades were added in the 19th Century and, today, the ground floor has many souvenir

shops and cafés.

Also on the Main Square is the city’s oldest church, built in the 11th Century and named after the martyred

missionary, St. Adalbert. The original stone building pre-dates the actual Square by almost 100 years but a

new church was built around it in about 1100, using the earlier stones for its foundations. In the early 1600s,

the church as partially rebuilt in the Baroque style and topped with a dome. The floor level is below that of

the Square because the latter has been overlayed with paving stones.

St. Adalbert, whose Slavic name was Vojtěch, was the Bishop of Prague but he left that position to become a

missionary in Hungary and Poland. There, he became the Bishop of Gniezno, near Poznań, after which he

went to convert the Old Prussians. Despite an armed Polish escort and an initially favourable

reception, he was killed by hostile pagans in 997. The Polish king, Bolesław I, ransomed his remains

for the equivalent weight in gold and they were interred in what is now the cathedral in Gniezno.

Contrast this humble church with the Wawel Cathedral, whose formal name is the Royal Archcathedral Basi-

lica of Saints Stanislaus and Wenceslaus. More than 900 years old, it served as coronation and burial site of

Polish kings during the centuries that Kraków was the capital. The Gothic cathedral is the third edifice on this

site, as the first was constructed and destroyed in the 11th Century and the second, built in the 12th Century,

was destroyed by a fire in 1305. Construction of the current one began in the 14th Century.

Karol Wojtyla, the future Pope John Paul II, conducted his first Mass as a priest in the Cathedral in 1946 and

he was ordained Kraków's Auxiliary Bishop in 1958.

The city is also the home of the second oldest university in Central Europe, founded in 1364 by King Casimir

III, who provided funding for a chair in Liberal Arts, two in Medicine, three in Canon Law and five in Roman

Law. Now known as the Jagiellonian University due to the great investment made by the first Lithuanian king

of Poland in the 1390s, who purchased its first building. The rapidly expanding faculty and student body soon

necessitated a larger purpose-built premises, known today as the Collegium Maius (Great College). With its

quadrangle and beautiful arcade, it came into being in the Old Town shortly before 1400. Today, the building

is a museum celebrating the history of the university.

The university attracted faculty and students from many parts of Europe – from 1450 onward, over 40% of its

students came from such countries as Bohemia, Germany, Hungary, Lithuania, Russia and Spain. Today, the

university has 15 faculties, 4000 academics and more than 40,000 students in some 80 disciplines.

However, we can’t leave Kraków without a look to the south at the majestic Tatra Mountains on the border

with Slovakia. With many peaks of over 2000 metres, they are the highest portion of the Carpathian Mountains,

which run from the border with the Czech Republic through to Hungary, Romania and Ukraine.

The Tatras are in contiguous national parks on either side of the border, which UNESCO designated as a

transborder Biosphere Reserve in 1992. Traditional industries like forestry and sheep grazing have stopped

and efforts are being made to keep the impact of tourism to a minimum.

Łódź is a former industrial centre about 120 km southwest of Warsaw. It is the third-largest city in Poland,

with a population of 680,000 and 1.1 million in the metropolitan area. First recorded as a small settlement in

about 1332, it was still a rather small and insubstantial town when it was granted city rights in the early

1400s. As with Warsaw, it was annexed by Prussia in the Partitions but transferred to Russia in 1815.

It was then that Łódź experienced rapid growth in the cloth industry and in population due to the inflow of

migrants, most notably Germans and Jews This led to somewhat lopsided development in the architecture of

the city, where luxurious mansions coexisted with redbrick factories and dilapidated tenement houses. After

Poland regained its independence in 1918, Łódź grew to be one of the largest Polish cities and one of the

largest industrial centres in Europe. Until 1948 the city served as a de facto capital of Poland and most of the

government was located there while Warsaw was being reconstructed.

Over four kilometres long, Ulica Piotrkowska is Łódź’s main thoroughfare and one of the longest pedestrian

streets in the world. It had always been the main street but, by 1990, the whole stretch was somewhat run-

down. Under a plan created by a noted architect, traffic was excluded in stages and the street was paved with

cobblestones. Modernistic streetlights and street furniture were also placed along the sides.

Also, the Art Nouveau and Historical properties that had belonged to rich industrialists in the 19th Century

were restored to their earlier splendour. Today, the street has many fine restaurants, shops and nightspots.

There is also a completely preserved industrial complex dating from about 1900 known as the Księży Młyn

(Priest’s Mill). There had been mills here belonging to the parish priest since the 15th Century and, in 1823,

the site was set aside for industrial spinning factories. After a fire stopped production in 1870, the area was

turned into a housing complex complete with all the amenities of a suburban community The brick architec-

ture and level of preservation are such that efforts are being made to get the site UNESCO status.

Łódź also provides plenty of green spaces for recreation, most notably the Łagiewnicki Forest which, at 1245

hectares, is said to be the largest forest within city limits anywhere in Europe. There is also the Źródliska Park,

whose 67-hectare botanical garden was first planted in 1929 but wasn’t developed until after the World War

II. Today, it has 3,500 varieties of plants set in nine sections, including plants from the Far East, the Medi-

terranean and Africa. Its arboretum includes the Alpinarium, which has been landscaped into a mountainous

terrain growing coniferous plants.

Wrocław is Poland’s fourth-largest city, with 640,00 inhabitants and a metropolitan population of 1.1 million.

It is the largest city in the region known as Silesia, which has been part of Bohemia, Hungary and Prussia at

various times but mostly under Polish rule. Situated on the Oder River at the intersection of two major trade

routes, it was probably named after Duke Vratislav I of Bohemia in the 900s, but it was annexed by the first

Polish king, Miezko I, in 985. The city became more cosmopolitan from the 1100s, with Bohemians, Germans,

Jews and even Walloons from Belgium amongst its ethnic minorities.

The city suffered two fires in the 1300s and an earthquake in 1443, but it was rebuilt each time and continued

to prosper and grow. It was annexed by Prussia along with most of Silesia in the Partitions and given the name

Breslau. It became a railway hub and an industrial centre, in which textile and metal industries were esta-

blished. Over time, Germans became the dominant population, especially after many Poles left for the newly

independent Poland after World War I.

Ostrów Tumski (Cathedral Island) is the oldest part of the city, formerly an island in the Oder River, featuring

the cathedral that was first built in the mid-10th Century. It became a ducal capital in 1163, at which time its

wooden defences were replaced by brick ones and a Roman-style residence was built for the duke. After 1315,

the island became church property.

The Archcathedral of St. John the Baptist in Ostrów Tumski is a Gothic church with Neo-Gothic additions.

The current building is the fourth church to have been built on the site, beginning with the Church of St. Martin

that was constructed by the Bohemians in about 950. A larger Romanesque church was built in the 1100s

The Old Town Hall stands at the centre of the city’s Market Square, which dates from the 1200s. Built in the

Gothic style in the same era, today, it is used for civic and cultural events such as concerts held in its Great

Hall. In addition, it houses an art museum and a restaurant in the basement.

Before we leave Silesia, we should look at the Stołowe Mountains National Park in the Sudetes Range on the

border with the Czech Republic. Known as the Table Mountains in English, the park was created in 1993 and

covers an area of 64 square kilometres, most of which is forested.

Poznań is the fifth-largest city in Poland. with a city population is 600,000 and a metropolitan populace of

almost 1.1 million. A fortified settlement existed there centuries before Poland became Christian, after which

the oldest cathedral in the country was built in the mid-900s. That cathedral became the burial place of the first

four Piast monarchs of Poland, though the town was fought over by Poles and Bohemians until 1039. In the

1200s, a castle was built and the town as expanded and fortified. A large number of German workers were

brought in for those works and, by 1400, some 75% of the population was German-speaking.

In the time of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth, the city’s importance began to grow, due to its position

on trading routes from Lithuania and Russia to Western Europe. It would become a major centre for the fur

trade by the late 16th Century. Poznań came under Prussian control after the Second Partition in 1793 and

remained part of Germany until the end of World War I.

Poznań has its own Cathedral Island at the confluence of two tributaries of the Oder. As with all other such

buildings, the Archcathedral Basilica of St. Peter and St. Paul has been rebuilt in various styles over the last

1100 years. The original church was raised to cathedral status in 968, when Bishop Jordan was sent from Rome

to further the Christanisation of Poland. King Mieszko I was possibly baptised there.

The cathedral was built in Pre-Romanesque and later in Romanesque styles in the 10th and 11th Centuries, then

in Gothic style in the 14th and 15th Centuries. A fire in 1622 did such serious damage that the cathedral needed

a complete renovation, which was carried out in the Baroque style and it was rebuilt in the Neo-Classical style

after another major fire in 1772.

In the very heart of the Old Market Square is most beautiful Renaissance Town Hall north of the Alps. In 1551,

a clock with mechanical billy goats was installed there and every day, as it strikes noon, a door opens on the

tower above the clock, and two billy goats appear. Controlled by the clock’s mechanism, they butt their heads

together twelve times.

The Imperial Castle (really a palace) was built in the early 1900s to serve as the provincial residence

of Kaiser Wilhelm II. Designed in the neo-Romanesque style, the west wing held Wilhelm's living

quarters; the east wing housed his ithrone room; and the northern part of the complex consisting of

service rooms and beautiful gardens based on the Courtyard of the Lions in the Moorish Alhambra in

Grenada. Between the wars, it became the seat of Poznań University, before it was used as the

headquarters of the Nazi governor of the district.

After World War II, it was the seat of local government, and since 1962 it has been a cultural centre,

hosting theatre performances, concerts, film screenings and other events in its palatial halls each year.

The basement houses a museum for the 1956 Poznań Uprising that forced the Communist government

to adopt more liberal policies, and throughout the large complex there are several restaurants, cafes

and bars, including the popular Dubliner Irish Pub.

Now I’m going to give geography precedence over demography – about 400 km north on the Oder River,

almost to its mouth, is Poland’s seventh-largest city, Szczecin. The city has population of 400,000 on both

banks of the river and some islands between its two branches; however, the metropolitan populace is 780,000

and that area actually extends across the border with Germany.

The city's recorded history began in the 8th Century as a Slavic stronghold around the present Ducal Castle

(see below). Pomerania was annexed by King Mieszko I in the 10th Century but it was contested by Saxony,

the Holy Roman Empire, Denmark and Sweden over the next 600 years. From 1720, the region was part of

the Prussian Empire and it remained in German hands until the end of World War II. During that time, the city

– now known as Stettin – became a centre of shipbuilding, chemical, food and manufacturing industries. Its

city plan resembles that of Paris even today, mostly because Szczecin was rebuilt in the 1880s to a design by

Baron Haussmann, who had redesigned Paris for Emperor Napoleon III.

The original Ducal Castle was demolished in 1249 but a new one was built in 1346. Further rebuilding and the

addition of new wings occurred between 1490 and the late 1500s. in 1648, the castle became the seat of the

Swedish governor and yet another reconstruction took place before 1705. It suffered major damage during

World War II but it was rebuilt to its 16th Century appearance between 1958 and 1980.

The Old Town, below the Ducal Castle, was completely levelled during World War II but, unlike elsewhere,

reconstruction.was delayed until 1994 and only a few monuments have been rebuilt so far, concentrated around

the Rynek (Old Market Square). But, even knowing that these aren’t originals, the cobblestone square deserves

to be seen for its colourful Baroque gabled townhouses and the reconstructed Town Hall, which has a museum

dedicated to the history of the city.

Upriver from the city is the Szczecin Lagoon, separated from the Baltic Sea by two islands. The lagoon, the

western part of which is in Germany, covers an area of 687 sq. km. and its natural depth is an average 3.8

metres, but there are shipping channels whose depths can exceed 10.5 metres. The first of those was dug by

the Germans between 1874 and 1880 so that large ships could get through to Szczecin, which had always been

a major port. Most of the Lagoon is used for tourism and recreation, as it is rich in fish.

Lastly, we come to Gdańsk, Poland’s sixth-largest city with a population of 470,000. Its metropolitan area

takes in the adjacent port city of Gdynia, giving it the impressive population of 1.4 million. The Vistula River

forms a large delta when it reaches the Baltic Sea and the city is at the mouth of its westernmost side channel.

Thus, Gdańsk is connected by water to Warsaw and Kraków.

Thought to have been founded by Mieszko I in the 980s, it quickly became a trading centre. It was alternately

under Polish and German control, as well as being a free city under Polish protection in the 1400s. Called

Danzig in German, it had a long bicultural tradition.

The city was annexed by Prussia along with the rest of Pomerania in 1793 but, at the end of World War I, it

again became a free city due to its German majority. The restored state of Poland had been promised access to

the Baltic Sea by the victorious Allies, so the Polish Corridor was created between Pomerania and East Prussia.

After World War II, Gdańsk became part of Poland.

The city was heavily damaged by aerial bombardment during the War, so much of what you’ll see now are

reconstructions. The Brama Wyzynna (Upper or Outer Gate) was the main gate in the walls of the old city.

Artus Court (literally ‘Arthur’s Court’) in the heart of the Old Quarter dates from the mid-1350s and used to

be the meeting place of merchants from all over Europe and a centre of social life. Today, it is a branch of

the Gdańsk History Museum.

St. Mary’s Church, formally called the Basilica of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary, dates back to

1343 and is officially one of the three largest brick churches in the world. The interior walls in the main church

hall are white, as it was taken over by Lutherans in the 16th Century and remained so until 1945.

Instead of a market square, Gdańsk had an entire street called Długi Targ (Long Market). Here is located the

City Hall, famous for its distinctive clock tower.

Last but not least, Poland has some Unitarian history. Fausto Sozzini, known to us as Faustus Socinus, was

born in Siena in 1539 and grew up in an atmosphere of Renaissance humanism. He moved between Italy,

France and Switzerland as a young man and, by 1563, he had written a thesis rejecting the divinity of Jesus,

though he did not publish it in his own name.

By this time, the Italian Inquisition had clamped down on Siena and Socinus went again to Switzerland and

then to Poland, which he found to be a ‘heretic’s asylum’ of religious tolerance. Its capital city of Kraków had

a large Italian colony as well as a congregation of Nonconformists known as the Minor Reformed Church.

They were part of a movement that had begun in 1565, after a debate convened by the king had failed to bring

the various Protestant factions together.

Socinus rapidly became an influential figure among these proto-Unitarians, though he was never a formal

member due to their Anabaptist requirement of total immersion as their initiation rite. Consequently, he led

the movement from the outside, so effectively that by 1596 his position was unchallenged. During the

remaining eight years of his life, he set his stamp upon their thinking to the point that their doctrine became

known as ‘Socinianism’ in the outside world.

However, Socinus’ unorthodox beliefs led to an attempt on his life and, in 1598, he took refuge in the small

country town of Raków, near Poznań, with some of his followers. Though they were hospitably received, the

town had been founded by Poles a decade before as a Utopian community, democratically run and with material

possessions owned in common. This had been a failure among the individualistic Poles but it gave place to a

centre, not only for the theological debates that made it famous but also for progressive thought on such matters

as capital punishment and participation in war.

The Minor Reformed Church, now known as the Polish Brethren, had a major impact on the little community.

Its printing press issued hundreds of titles, most of them in Latin, which meant that they could and did find a

place in the libraries of leading thinkers all across the Continent. It also boasted an academy whose high

standards drew students and faculty from many countries. In 1605, they produced the Racovian Catechism,

perhaps the most widely influential Unitarian document in history. Though this was a year after Socinus’ death,

the Catechism clearly embodied his thinking and caused consternation in conventional religious circles for many

decades after it first appeared.

Unfortunately, Poland-Lithuania was invaded by Protestant Sweden in 1655 and five years of bitter warfare

engulfed the whole of Northern Europe. This polarised the country, with the Catholic majority accusing all

other denominations of being Swedish collaborators. The Polish Brethren were expelled by an order of the

Sejm (parliament) in 1658. Socinus’ grandson and co-author of the Cathechism, Andrzej Wiszowaty, went to

Amsterdam and oversaw the printing of a large number of Racovian works. His own book, Rational Religion,

was published later by his son, Benedykt.